The Friendly Dead

Ghostly apparitions will sometimes appear as a threat but sometimes they are there to help give comfort to those who need it. There is a story about a young man who was in the process of moving into a new home. He is an only child living with his mother in a large yet older home.

Since the home was a bit of a fixer-upper there was a reason for the great deal on the home purchase price. Previously, the man who owned the home before died from a heart attack and it was a short sale. The boy and his mother had only been living in the house for a few weeks. One evening late at night, the boy went downstairs to get a glass of water from the kitchen

At the very end of the hallway is where the kitchen is located. From there is the doorway, with a swinging door to the kitchen. The boy continued to get something to drink after being so thirsty. As he was drinking, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a rocking chair which was moving back and forth. He assumed it was his pet cat, but realized his cat was fast asleep at the foot of his bed upstairs. A sudden fear came over him, as the lights flickered in the kitchen. A chill ran down the very back of his spine.

He wandered around the corner to the entrance of the living room, where the rocking chair was still moving. There wasn’t anyone around and the room was dimly lit. There is a mirror on the wall opposite of where the chair is. As he looked at the mirror, the reflection revealed an elderly man sitting on the rocking chair. He then looked back at the chair noticing it was still moving but with nobody sitting on it.

He decided to slowly wander out of the room backpedaling, bumping into a piece of furniture. As he began walking upstairs, he suddenly heard a voice whispering: “Good night”. Both terrified and unsure of what he really had seen, he ran quickly to his room. Before he somehow fell asleep, he had kicked the covers off.

He was very cold, as he woke again peering with one eye open, he noticed the same old mans spirit who pulled the covers back over him. He thought it was a dream so he fell back asleep. Oddly enough, the boy felt a sense of comfort.

The next day, he told his mother what happened. She was struck with disbelief and then explained hospice workers had found him dead. It was in his favorite rocking chair, in the front room next to the kitchen. He had always been a nice old man.